UC Denver provost named president of Valparaiso University
DENVER - University of Colorado Denver Provost and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Mark Heckler has accepted the job as president of Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Ind. He plans to assume the post in July 2008.
"All that I have worked for and pursued my whole life has been leading me to this opportunity with Valparaiso University," said Heckler, who as provost oversaw the university's academic community. "It will be the right place for me to be and the right time for me to be there."
Heckler, 52, joined the UC Denver faculty in 1995 as director of the School of the Arts and later championed the effort that created the College of Arts and Media, of which he then served as founding dean. In 2003, Heckler was named interim vice chancellor for academic and student affairs, served briefly as acting chancellor and was named permanent university provost in January 2004, with duties expanding to include academic and student affairs at the Anschutz Medical Campus in September 2006.
"This institution is ready to go to the next level as a comprehensive university with leadership that is guiding and redefining our place regionally, nationally and in the international community," Heckler said. "I feel really good about where we are right now, and I have tremendous confidence in the leadership now guiding UC Denver toward the future."
"While I share Mark's joy at his achievement of a long-held personal dream, I am also saddened by the substantial loss to our university community," said Chancellor M. Roy Wilson. "It would be difficult to overstate the important contributions Mark has made over his twelve years at our university. His presence and leadership will be missed."
In January, Chancellor Wilson will work with the UC Denver leadership team to define the transition timeline and process. The transition process will include a national search for Heckler's replacement.
A native of Pennsylvania, Heckler has been at the University of Colorado Denver since 1995, when he joined the staff as a tenured professor of theatre and director of the School of Arts. Under his leadership, the School of Arts was expanded and renamed the College of Arts and Media and he was named the new college's founding dean in 1998. He held that position until 2003 when he served briefly as UC Denver's acting chancellor before being appointed to his current position.
He led development of UC Denver's first academic master plan and launched work on a comprehensive strategic plan that will be completed next month. He also guided creation of a university-wide undergraduate core curriculum, launched a special program for first-year students, expanded university honors and leadership programs and inaugurated UC Denver's Digital Animation Center and the Colorado Film School.
Heckler has extensive experience in development of international study programs and served two years as the U.S. administrator of an undergraduate liberal arts degree-granting program in Beijing operated jointly by China Agricultural University and UC Denver.
Heckler also played an integral role in raising funds for the university's $40 million Kenneth Kendal King Academic and Performing Arts Center, secured a $5.25 million gift for the Starz Filmcenter of which he was co-founder, helped secure a $1 million grant for the Advance Colorado Center that he also co-founded, and helped plan and secure funding for a $104 million Science Building soon to be built on the Auraria Campus.
The University of Colorado Denver is one of three universities in the University of Colorado system. Located in Denver on the Downtown Campus and at Ninth & Colorado Blvd., and on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colo., University of Colorado Denver is Colorado's premier research university offering more than 100 degrees and programs in 13 schools and colleges and serving more than 28,000 students in Metro Denver and online. For more information, visit the website at www.uchsc.edu or the UC Denver Newsroom at www.uchsc.edu/news.